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NORWICH 1 MANCHESTER UNITED 0

19.24 What a result for Norwich, who defended well, were well organised, but didn't even need to be particularly good to beat a rotten United side. Big questions for them to answer. Giggs starting ahead of Anderson was confusing, RVP was ineffective without Rooney alongside him, and Young and Valencia were very light on end product from wide areas. Drama at the end, with Ruddy saving bravely at Scholes' feet after parrying a shot to him. They'll be dancing in the corridors of the Holiday Inn attached to Carrow Road tonight. Thanks for your company, I'll talk to you again soon.

FULL TIME

90+4 min Great save by Ruddy! Tipping over Bassong's wayward header to concede a corner. Morison heads the corner clear but United keep the ball... Smalling heads over. That'll be your lot.

90+1 min Four minutes of added time, the first of which has been taken up by Bob Snodgrass receiving treatment. He's taken off, replaced by Bennett.

90 min That should have been it. Norwich break through Morison after Bradley Johnson wins it in the middle and gives it to Morison. He delays his pass to Howson but gives it him in the end, giving the midfielder a one on one against Lindegaard. The shot is screwed wide. Shades of that horrible finish by Grant Holt when clean through against Arsenal.

88 min Erm... It's beginning to look a lot like Norwich are going to do this, and United have shown so little to suggest otherwise. It's been like Norwich v Reading or something.

84 min Anderson's on for Ferdinand for United.

83 min Norwich make their first sub. Grant Holt, massive, brilliant, is off for Steve Morison, massive, less brilliant. Howson on for Hoolahan too. I can't fathom why you'd bring on two players at once in Norwich's situation. Surely with all three subs to use you bring on one at a time and attempt to run down the clock / break up the play?

81 min United turning some kind of screw now. Whittaker with a crucial header away from Young's cross. You feel United are going to create one proper chance. Surely they will? They've failed to do it so far. They tend to do it at least once per game.

80 min Giggs, not having a good game, tries to control a Welbeck header which comes to him, rather fortunately. Bad idea. He cannot. Was worth a volley, that.

78 min Speaking of rubbish football kits, which I nearly always am, here's John Ruddy in the process of showing his delight after Pilkington's goal:

76 min Nothing of note from the corner.

75 min Better from United, who are beginning to ask some questions of the Norwich defence. These questions are mainly being posed in the form of difficult crosses into the box. Welbeck heads one of Evra's back the way it came, and it's just wide. Corner, says Anthony Taylor, oddly. Anthony Taylor is from Manchester. But don't worry, he supports Altrincham.

72 min Hard to pinpoint what's going wrong for United today. They are missing Rooney, as most teams would. They've lacked presence in the middle, as you'd expect for a team playing Ryan Giggs there. But, most tellingly of all, they're still wearing that dreadful teatowel shirt. I think that's their major issue.

68 min This is increasingly looking pretty desparate for United. They're so short on ideas. Subs are coming.

65 min Time for a pertinent statistical tweet from our friends at Opta:

<noframe>Twitter: OptaJoe - 7 - Manchester United have conceded first in seven previous Premier League games this season but have gone on to win five of them. Test.</noframe>

63 min Carrow Road is rocking. Not literally. Structurally it remains extremely sound. But the supporters inside it are all gigantically delighted.

60 min GOAL!! Norwich 1 Man Utd 0 (Pilkington) Garrido, on the overlap on the right, picks out a marvellous cross. Pilkington arrives just in time and flashes a glorious header past Lindegaard. No chance for the keeper, lovely goal, and Norwich have a deserved lead.

59 min Some meek head tennis in the box from Young and Valencia after Van Persie crosses. Isn't that sentence entirely the wrong way around? What's RVP doing out wide? United need to shake things up here.

55 min Mostly Norwich pressure so far this half. United were sent out early after the break, with a hairdryer presumably ringing in their ears. A thing which is definitely possible. No discernible improvement from them since. Alex Ferguson, not pictured, is growing increasingly more red.

50 min Free kick to Norwich wide on the right. Good delivery by Snodgrass by Lindegaard gets an uncertain punch on it and Norwich clear.

48 min Van Persie is on the end of a decent up and under ball by Young. Can't quite control it as it comes to him over his shoulder, but he soon manufactures space for a shot. Parried by Ruddy, then smothered as Hernandez arrived on the scene.

46 min United begin the second half with an absolutely fantastic kick-off. Really well done there, lads.

18.17 It's there for the taking for either side. Norwich will be by far the happier, but we've seen this many, many times from United down the years. Sub-par, flattering to deceive, then fortunate winners. Or surprisingly turned over... We've seen that too, sometimes. See you in 15.

HALF TIME

45 min One added minute shall be played.

43 min United have three corners in quick succession. First nearly results in a goal, second isn't very good, third is caught by Ruddy.

42 min Giggs chips a ball towards the right-hand side towards RVP. The Dutchman fancies an acrobatic tribute to goals' Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He fails to connect.

38 min Holt should do better after industrious running from Snodgrass on the left. He beats Ferdinand and crosses low for the large striker. Smalling's in there first to prevent a tap-in.

35 min United not looking very good in central midfield. Odd partnership for them there today, Carrick and Giggs, and neither of them are passing very well. They look better when Hernandez drifts wide to combine with Valencia, but they're still yet to create a proper chance.

32 min Tettey adds his name to the "players who have tried shots from unwise range" list. To be fair to him, it's not a terrible effort. On target from roughly 32.1 yards but an easy save for Lindegaard. Here are Van Persie and Bradley Johnson pulling silly faces:

30 min It's become scrappy. Norwich won't mind that too much, they've managed to stop United playing and have looked the more dangerous side for the last 15 minutes.

25 min Best chance of the game so far, and it falls for the team that are called Norwich City. Lovely reverse pass from Hoolahan who plays a disguised ball outside to Garrido on the left. He puts an inviting ball across the six yard box but there's no-one on the end of it and it ends up looking like a poor shot.

22 min Nothing of note happened from the corner. This, you may remember, was also the work of Alexander Tettey:

20 min United lacking some fluidity at the moment. Norwich can sense their unease and are stepping up and cutting out passes. Their progress is undermined when Tettey, who I suspect is really quite bad, executes and absolutely dreadful attempt at a player-beating drop of the shoulder, loses the ball, and it leads to a break and a corner for United. Mark Dezelsky has spotted a weakness in the United ranks:

Think Utd (my team) have a problem with Valencia. He's just as predictable as last few seasons (get to the byline, stick a ball into the area between peno spot and 6-yard line), but his delivery isn't as good as it used to be and he's lost a yard of pace. Not as threatening as he was.

18 min Wes Hoolahan with an ambitious effort of his own. He's a mere 25ish yards out. The result is the same, a comfortable save fopr Lindegaard.

15 min Ashley Young with an ambitious effort from a free kick 35ish yards out. As with all ambitious efforts, it's not troubling the keeper. Easily caught by England's number 13 John Ruddy.

13 min Fairly even game now, Norwich look a threat on the break, albeit a blunt one. United buzz forward ominiously from midfield, but Bassong continues to win his battles with Hernandez.

10 min Norwich, as they have done regularly when I've watched them this season, do have trouble with composure when presented with the ball in decent positions. Tettey has space to run into when the ball arrives at his feet 40 yards from goal. He stumbles a little as he passes to Hoolahan, and his caught-in-two-minds pass is easily cut out by Smalling.

8 min Ruddy punches it away and Norwich break. Hoolahan finds Pilkington on the overlap. Excellent pass. Pilkington cuts back and shoots just wide from outside the box.

7 min Promising pass on the move from Van Persie, who spreads it to Valencia on the right after bursting forward from the middle. His cross is nodded behind for a United corner.

4 min Reasonably plain sailing from United so far who have begun the match in the sort of untroubled control you would expect from them in this fixture. Valencia gallops forward but is tackled by Garrido.

1 min We have kick off. Norwich get us started.

17.25 Chris Hughton clearly putting his faith in youth this evening:

17.17 Are you concerned about the whereabouts of David De Gea today? Do not be. He's just feeling the after effects of having wisdom teeth removed earlier in the week. That's not an injury you see crop up much on games of Football Manager.

17.00 This evening's retro highlights are brought to you by the year 1993:

In this last days of Rome-era of the Premier League, it's striking how a team such as Manchester United remain so dominant.

Their defence is poor, they spend long periods of games and indeed seasons not looking capable of putting a coherent, considered attacking move together, and they regularly play two chaps who are nearly 40.

I'm not ragging on United, they're deserved leaders of the league and Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney are a lot of fun to watch.

I think they will win the league this season and I don't think that an improving Norwich City have got much chance this afternoon.

It's not out of the question that their good run continues this evening. They've beaten Arsenal and Stoke at home, and knocked Spurs out of the League Cup.

But that defence, she is not strong. And that Manchester United strikeforce, she is.

Only one outcome, surely? We will find out. Right here. And also in East Anglia.

Team News Norwich will again be without defender Russell Martin (back).Midfielder Alex Tettey pulled out of the Norway squad for their midweek friendly with Hungary with a minor back problem, but should be available.

Wayne Rooney and Jonny Evans are Manchester United's major doubts. Rooney sustained an ankle injury during last week's win at Aston Villa, when Evans missed out completely with a groin problem.

Robin van Persie is expected to be available after missing Holland's midweek friendly with Germany.

Match Notes On a five-match winning streak, a buoyant Manchester United are poised to shatter Norwich City’s own sequence of five matches unbeaten. Given that Chris Hughton’s side conceded four goals the last time that they encountered a top-four side in Chelsea, United should regard Carrow Road as ripe for plunder. Sir Alex Ferguson has already guaranteed that Javier Hernández would play after the Mexican’s hat-trick last weekend, and the striker is likely to be partnered up front by Robin van Persie. Oliver Brown

Betting: Home 13-2, Away 2-5, Draw 3-1.

Stat of the game: United have won seven and lost just one of their last eight visits to Carrow Road in all competitions.